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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. S. W. HUDSON.

WATER ELEVATOR.

No. 278,796. Patented June 5,1883. 137 .1.

WITNESSES INVENTOR SamueL W'Elidson.

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(No ModeL) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. S. W. HUDSON.

WATER ELEVATOR.

No. 278,796. I Patented June 5,1883.

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I UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE,

SAMUEL WV. HUDSON, OE HUDSONDALE, PENNSYLVANIA.

WATER-ELEVATOR.-

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 278,796, datedJune 5, 1883. Application filed December 27,1882. -(No model.)

To (all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL W. Henson, of Hudsondale, in the county of Carbon and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in VVater-Elevators, of which the following is a specifica In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a diagrammatic sectional elevation of my improved organization, and Fig. 2 a similar view of a modified organization;

I have represented my invention somewhat diagrammatically organized for practical working, and I regard the arrangement there shown as a very efficient one, though, so far as the leading feature of the invention is concerned, which is hereinafter described and specifically claimed, the details shown may be varied without departing therefrom.

Pipes A A lead from the water to be elevated to the bottoms of the chambers B O, the entrances into the chambers being covered by inwardly-opening flap-valves a a. Depending pipes a c extend from the bottoms of the pumping or water-elevating chambers -D and E down into the chambers B C, and serve to place these compartments in communication. The entrances from the pipes a into the chambers D E are also closed by inwardly-opening flap-valves a. Pipes F E, into which the water to be elevated, as hereinafter described,

is forced, communicate with the chambers D and .E at or near their bottoms, the openings between the chambersand the pipes beingcovered by flap-valves f opening into the pipes. A valve-chest, G, located above the cylinders D and E, has two ports, 9 and h, and a suitable slide, 1', operated by a shaft, 1". The port g communicates with the pumping-chamber D and the opposite lower chamber, 0, while the port 71 communicates with the pumpingch'amber E and the opposite lower chamber, B. The valve-chest has also a central port, k, which can be thrown into communication with either of the ports 9 or h by the operation of the valve-slide, and is in permanent communication, by means of a pipe, I, with the central port of the valvechest Not the air-compressor Ni The valve-chests M and G are in permanent communication by means of a pipe, 0. The air pumping and compressing apparatus N is driven by a suitable motor, P,

P, a steam-motor being indicated in the draw ings.

\Vith the valveslide '2' thrown over to one side, it will be obvious that the air in one of the up per chambers, D or E, and the opposite lower chamber will be pumped out and driven into the other upper chamber and its corresponding opposite lower one. Thus, with the slide 2' in the position shown in the drawings, the port g, which, is in communication with the upper chamber D and the lower chamber C, is in' communication with thetpipel and the central port of the valvechest M, so that when the steam-engine is working, the piston of the air pump and compressor reciprocated, and its slide-valve operated, the air will be taken from the chambers D and O and forced into the chambers E and B through the valve-chest M, pipe 0, valve-chest G, and port 7:. With the apparatus thus working, the air in the chambers D and C will be exhausted and compressed into the chambers E and B. The eifect of this will be that the vacuum or partial vacuum created in the chamber 0 will cause the water to be'eleva-ted to rise therein, and, supposing a similar operation to that just described to have previously occurred, with the valve-slide t thrown over to the right, or in the opposite position to that indicated in the drawings, the

water, which by that means would have been raised into the chamber B, will now rise into the chamber D 011 account of the vacuum produced therein, as above described, and also 011 account of the pressure in the chamber B, which latter point will presently be more particularly referred to. the condition shown in the drawings, the chambers D and G therefore will be full or par tially full of water, which will be sustained therein by the flap-valves. If, now, the valveslide '5 be shifted so as to place the chambers E and B in communication with pipe Z, it will be obvious that the air in those chambers will be pumped out and compressed in the chambers D and C. The effect of the pressure in the chamber 1) will be to force the water out of that chamber and elevate it through the pipe F to the desired point, while the combined effect of the vacuum or partial vacuum in the chamber E and the pressure in the cham- NVith the apparatus in ber (J will be to cause the water to rise and fill the chamber E, so that it will be driven out by the compressed air into the pipe F, when the action of the machine is reversed by again shifting the valve-slide 2'.

Many ways may be devised of automatically operating the valve-slide shaft 6 so as to give a continuous successive operation, such as de scribed, when the engine P is running.

I have illustrated in the drawings, and will now describe, what I consider the simplest and most efficient means of effecting the reversal ofthe valve-slide. I

A hollow elongated bucket, r, is suspended in each of the chambers D E from a small piston-rod, g, which passes through suitable packing in thetop of the chamber, and is pivoted to one arm of the elbow-lever q, the other arm of the lever being connected with the valve shaft i; The connections between the lever and valve-rod and piston q' are loose or slide joints, so as to permit the piston and shaft to move in right lines. This device operates in the following manner: hen the water rises in one ofthe pumpingchambers sa'y E-it fills the elongated bucket, and, buoying it up, causes the piston g, by means of the elbow-lever, to thrust the valve-shaft toward the left, so that the air will be exhausted from the chambers D and O and compressed into the chambers E and B. As the water is driven-out of the chamber E a point .will be. reached where the float 1' will fall sufficiently far to reverse the valveshaft and valve-slide and cause the apparatus to exhaust the air from the chamber E, out of which a large portion of the water has been forced, and to compress it into the chamber -D to drive out the water which has meanwhile risen therein.

\Vhen the apparatus is operated as thus far described, the amount of pressure that can be obtained is due to merely compressing the volume of air, which fills all four of the cylinders, into two of them, and of course the power thus acquired would be "cry limited. In order to work the apparatus under a high pressure and elevate the water to a considerable height, I place a tension-valve, s, 011 each end of the air-compressor cylinder N. The tension-valves illustrated are pin-valves, and their power is regulated by means of a coiled spring and nut, as will be clear upon an inspection ofthe drawings. These valves can be adjusted to any desired pressuresay ten pounds-that is, whenever,

in exhausting the chambers D and O or E and B, a vacuum of ten pounds is obtained, the tensionvalves will open and admit air, so that upon a continued working of the apparatus a high degree of pressure may be accumulated in either pair of chambers. The amount of this pressure-assuming the power of the engineto be sufficient for, all purposeswill depend upon the height to which the column of water in the pipe F is to be liftedthat is, the tensionvalves will admit air and the engine will com press it until the power is sufficiently great to drive the water out of the chamber and e1evate it in the pipe F, and when the water in the chamber has been forced .down to such a level as to cause the fioat to shift the valveslide the tension-valves will immediately cease to operate, and as the highly-compressed air will be pumped into the other pair of chambers, and unless there has been some leakage, this volume of air will be just sufficient to elevate the column of water from this liftingchamber. In case of any leakage, however, the tension-valves will of course admit air until the required pressure to elevate the water is obtained, the amount of compression in all cases being proportional to the height to which the column of water is to be elevated.

By the organization of the apparatus described water can be elevated to very great heights. j Thus the water is raised by vacuum into the chambers B and C, and from these chambers is raised by the combined action of pressure and vacuum into the lift-ingchambers D and E before the final lift due to the direct compression ofthe air is exerted. If the apparatus is working at a vacuum of, say, ten pounds, I

IOO

economy of power; or, in other words, by the use of such an apparatus as I have described I can with a given power elevate a column of water to a greater height than it has been possible to do heretofore.

As above remarked, many of the details of this organization may be varied without departing from the broad principle of the inven tion, and some portions of the organization may be used without the others. For instance,

the chambers B and 0 might be dispensed with,

and the apparatus organized so as to operate with simply two chambers, D and E, alternately producing a vacuum in one and a pressure in the other; and,'as above mentioned, the means of effecting the shifting of the valveslide may be changed without departing from the leading feature of my invention. For instance, under the organization shown in Fig. 2, where the chambers B and O are dispensed with, the shifting of the valve-shaft i maybe effected by means of the pressure in one of the cylinders and the vacuum in the other, in the following manner: The valve-shaft i passes through two small cylinders, T, one on each side of the valvechest, and carries piston-heads which work in these cylinders. The cylinders communicate at their inner ends by means of passages 26 with the chambers D and E, while the opposite ends are in communication with the atmosphere by openings 2". The shaft 47 may be names a s adjusted in any suitable manner, so as only to move when a given force is applied to it. When the apparatus is working with the parts in position shown in this figure, so that avacuum will be producedin D- and a pressure in E, it will be noted that as the force of the pressure in E increases the power of the vacuum in D will also increase, and that the pressure in E through the opening'twill operate in the right-hand cylinder T to thrust the pistonhead over and shift the valve-shaft, while the power of the vacuum in the opposite cylinder T will operate in conjunction with the pressure, aswill be plain fromthe drawings. When, therefore, the combined pressure and vacuum exert the required power, the valve-shaft will be shirted and the operation reversed, as will be well understood. The shaft may also be worked by a single cylinder, the piston being shifted alternately by pressure and vacuum. This will be plain, and needs no description.

The right is. reserved to hereafter file another application or applications for the subject-matter illustrated in Fig. 2, or for any subject-matter herein described or illustrated and not claimed.

What I claim as my invention is 1. The combination, substantially as set.

operations, and floats in the water'elevating chambers, which automatically work the valvev 3 5 mechanism with which they are directly connected.

2. The combination, substantially as set forth, of the chambers B and O, the water-elevating chambers D and E, the connecting pipes angl valves, the valve mechanism G, the air pumper and compressor and its valve mechanism, a motor for driving the pumping and compressing mechanism, water-elevating pipes or conduits, and means for automatically shifting the valve-slide z.

The combination, substantially as set forth, of the water-elevating chambers, air pumping and compressing mechanism for alternately exhausting the air from one chamber and compressing it in the other, valve meehanism for automatically causing such alternate successive operation, means for operating the valve mechanism, water-elevating pipes or con duits, and an air-inlet tension valve or valves.

4. The combination, substantially as set forth, of the chambers B D and G E, the G011- necting-pip'es,valve mechanism, and air pumper and compressor.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto sub- 6 scribed my name. r

SAMUEL W. HUDSON.

Witnesses:

L. H. BARBER, F. T. ZUTOLELLE. 

